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HOLY RIGHTEOUS JOAKIM AND ANNA

Saint Anna, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, was the youngest daughter of the priest Matthan of Bethlehem, descended from the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Aaron, and his wife Mary, from the tribe of Judah. Her parents had three daughters: Ma-ria, So-via and An-na. Of these, the first married Mary in Beth-le-em and ro-di-la Sa-lo-miya; then she married So-viy, also in Beth-le-em and ro-di-la Eli-sa-ve-tu, mother of John Pred-te-chi; the third, Anna, the future mother of the Most Holy Bo-go-ro-di-tsy, married Joachim, who was from Gaul, in the city of Na-za-ret.

The holy righteous Joachim, the son of Varpafir, was a descendant of King David, to whom God promised that the Messiah, the Savior of the world, would be born from the seed of his descendants. Ro-do-word-of his ta-ko-vo: the son of Da-vi-da Na-fa-na had a son Levi, Levi gave birth to Melchia and Pan- fi-ra, Pan-fir ​​gave birth to Var-pa-fi-ra, Var-pa-fir gave birth to Joachim-ma, the father of God Ma-te-ri.

The couple lived in Nazareth of Galilee (the northern part of Palestine) and dreamed of children all their lives, but, according to the special providence of God, Saint Anna was barren for a long time. They led a righteous life, they were united by tender love. Every year they gave two-thirds of their income to the Temple in Jerusalem and to the poor.

Joachim and Anna did not have children until a very old age, and all their lives they mourned and wept about it. They had to endure contempt and ridicule, since at that time childlessness was considered a shame. For 50 years of their marriage, the couple only fervently prayed to God, humbly trusting in His Will.

Once, during a great feast, the gifts that the righteous Joachim took to Jerusalem to offer them to God were not accepted by the priest Reuben, who believed that a childless husband was not worthy to offer sacrifice to God. This greatly saddened the elder, and he, considering himself the most sinful of people, decided not to return home, but to settle alone in a deserted place. He decided to spend 40 days and nights fasting and praying, praying to the Lord for mercy.

His righteous wife Anna considered herself the main culprit of the grief that befell them. When she learned about her husband's deed, she also began to mournfully ask God in fasting and prayer to give her a child, promising to bring a born child as a gift to God.

And the prayer of the holy spouses was heard: an Angel appeared to both of them and announced that a Daughter would be born to them, Whom the whole human race would bless.

The conception of St. Anna took place on the ninth day of de-kab-rya me-sya-tsa in Jerusalem (on this day - December 9 (22) - Orthodox Church celebrates The Conception of the Most Holy Theotokos by Righteous Anna ), and on September 8, she gave birth to a daughter, pre-chi-flock and Pre-bless-go-word-ven-naya De-va Ma-ria, about the birth of Ko- she ascended to-ra-to-va-lis both no-bo and earth-la. Joachim, on the occasion of Her birth, brought to God great gifts, sacrifices and all-burnings and received the bless-th-word-ve -the first-priest-priest-no-ka, priest-no-kov, le-vi-tov and all people for being able to beat the blah-go-word-ve -tion of God. That's why he arranged a plentiful meal in his house, and all with the best pro-glory-la-whether God.

Pod-ras-ta-yu-shchuyu De-va Mary ro-di-te-li Her be-reg-li as ze-ni-tsu of the eye, ve-daya, especially-ben-no-mu from- God's blood, that She will be the light of the whole world and the renewal of the nature of man. In this way, they re-pi-you-va-li Her with such a meticulous inspection-ri-tel-no-stu, ka-kai-do-ba-la Toi, Ko-to -paradise had to be Ma-te-ryu Spa-si-te-la of the world. They love Her not only as a daughter, wait for such a long time, but also like her mistress, remembering An - gel words spoken about Her, and seeing in the spirit that should be done over Her. She, full of Divine b-go-yes-ty, mysteriously, but o-ga-scha-la with the same b-go-da-tyu and her -their ro-di-te-lei. In addition, as the sun, with its own beams, illuminates the heavenly stars, giving them parts of its own oh world, so bo-go-of-branch Mary, like the sun, oza-rya-la lu-cha-mi given to her b-go-yes-ti Joachim-ma and An-well, so that they too would be the use of the Spirit of God, and firmly believe in the use of the words of Angels .

Until the age of three, the Most Holy Mary lived in the house of her parents, and then she was solemnly led by Saints Joachim and Anna to the temple of the Lord, where she was brought up to adulthood.

After a few years after the introduction of Mary into the temple, St. Joachim died at the age of 80. Holy An-na, left widow-howling, po-ki-nu-la Na-za-ret and came to Iera-sa-lim, where there would-be-va-la an eye-lo-lo- to her Pre-holy Do-che-ri, praying demon-pre-stand-but in the temple of God. Having lived in Jeru-sa-li-me for two years, she died peacefully at the age of 79, before the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The glory of the Daughter was revealed to her in eternal life.

Memory Dormition of Righteous Anna July 25 (August 7) .

Joachim and Anna are buried near the future tomb of their daughter, as well as the grave of Joseph the Betrothed, in the Garden of Gethsemane, under the Mount of Olives, not far from Jerusalem. These tombs were located on the edge of the valley of Jehoshaphat, which lay between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives.

Dignity and Holiness of Righteous Joachim and Anna

The advanced age of righteous spouses shows that the birth of their Daughter was the action of a special Providence of God . In the very Conception and Birth of such a Daughter was revealed and the power of God's grace , and the honor of the Born and the dignity of the parents; for it is impossible for a barren and aged woman to give birth otherwise than by the power of the grace of God: here it is no longer nature that is at work, but God, who conquers the laws of nature and destroys the bonds of barrenness.

To be born of infertile and aged parents is a great honor for the woman herself, because she is born not from intemperate parents, but from abstinent and aged parents, such as Joachim and Anna, who lived in marriage for 50 years and had no children. Finally, through such a birth, the dignity of the parents themselves is revealed, since after a long barrenness they gave birth to joy to the whole world, which was likened to the holy patriarch Abraham and his pious wife Sarah, who, according to the promise of God, gave birth to Isaac in old age (Genesis 21:2). However, without a doubt, it can be said that the birth of the Virgin is higher than the birth of Isaac by Abraham and Sarah. As much as the born Virgin Mary herself is higher and more worthy of honor than Isaac, so much greater and higher is the dignity of Joachim and Anna than Abraham and Sarah. They did not immediately achieve this dignity, but only with zealous fasting and prayers, in spiritual sorrow and heartfelt grief, they begged God for this: and their grief turned into joy, and their dishonor was a harbinger of great honor, and the zealous petition of the leader to receive blessings, and prayer is the best intercessor.

Holy righteous Joachim and Anna are called "Godfathers" because they are the direct ancestors of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Saints Anna and Iaokim did not perform a miracle, they did not suffer martyrdom and venerable deeds. They carried other sorrows - the sorrow of barren loneliness, and the patient hope in God, which they carry until old age.Through patience and hope, the righteous Anna and Joachim acquired their treasure in earthly life. Patience and hope were crowned with the joy of Christmas and became the guarantee of eternal joy in God. And Christ the Savior commands us: "By your patience save your souls"(Luke 21:19).

Traditionally, the parents of the Most Holy Theotokos are prayed for the gift of children.

Troparion of the Holy Righteous Fathers of God Joachim and Anna
Even in the lawful grace of the righteous former,
The God-given child begotten to us, Joachim and Anna.
The same day it triumphs brightly,
cheerfully celebrating the divine Church,
your honest memory,
glorify God, who raised up the horn of salvation for us in the house of David.

Troparion of Righteous Anna, tone 4
The life that gave birth in the womb was carried by you, the Pure Mother of God, God-wise Anno. Meanwhile, to the acceptance of Heaven, where the dwelling is rejoicing, rejoicing in glory, now you have reposed, honoring you with the love of sins, asking for cleansing, blessed.

Prayer to the saints righteous Joachim and Anna
O holy righteous, God-fathers Joachim and Anno! Pray to the Merciful Lord, as if He would turn away His anger from us, according to our deeds righteously moved on us, and may our countless transgressions be despised, turn us, the servant of God (names), to the path of repentance, and on the path of His commandments, let us confirm us. With the same prayers of yours in the world, save our life, and in all good things, ask for good haste, all that is necessary for us from God to life and piety, from all misfortunes and troubles and sudden death by your intercession, delivering us and protecting us from all enemies visible and invisible, and tacos in the world this temporary life is past. we will achieve eternal rest, even if by your holy supplication let us be made worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit all glory, honor and worship befits forever and ever. Amen .

On the eve of the great feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, let us remember Her holy parents. AT Holy Scripture we do not find a story about the birth of the Most Holy Theotokos. But this history has been preserved for us by the Holy Tradition as a whole - and it has been preserved, says Metropolitan Vladimir (Ikim), not by chance. After all, the story of the birth of the Mother of God is both wonderful and simply humanly touching, and carries a deep teaching meaning.

As we all remember, the parents of the Blessed Virgin were the pious Joachim and Anna, residents of Jerusalem. It seemed that these happy spouses had all the blessings of the world: mutual love, prosperity, and noble origin - both of them belonged to the family of King David.

There was only one thing they didn't have: children. And not because Joachim and Anna did not want to have them - in traditional society At that time, this was unthinkable, but because the Lord, for some reason known only to Him, was slow to fulfill this long-standing desire of the pious spouses.

And the farther, the less hope they had that this desire would ever be fulfilled at all: Joachim and Anna were already entering the age of old age, when childbearing becomes impossible.

Even in our time, infertility is the cause of mental anguish for so many families. Although now we are much calmer about childbearing or its absence: after all, from the works of the holy fathers of the Church, we know that our salvation does not depend on whether we have children, but on how close we ourselves are to God.

And a pious Christian marriage by no means loses its main meaning - growing in love for each other and for God - even if for some reason it does not continue in children. But in itself, the natural desire to have children lives in almost every one of us. And for loving spouses who would like to see the living embodiment of their love in a common child, together to raise one or more Christians, infertility is now becoming a difficult cross.

What can we say about the Old Testament era, when believing people placed their main hope on the coming of the Savior into the world and therefore sought to continue their race by any legal means, so that their descendants and all the people of Israel would live to see this day of redemption promised by God through the prophets. Childbearing was considered nothing more than the sacred duty of every pious Jew to his people. Moreover, especially strict requirements were imposed on the offspring of the house of King David, to which Joachim and Anna belonged.

After all, according to the prophecies, it was from this generation that the Savior was supposed to appear, and, therefore, any descendant of David who did not have children could delay His coming into the world, make the people of God and the whole world wait even longer for the desired redemption!

The participation of spouses in this great work of God's Dispensation was important, and therefore childlessness was regarded as a sign of sinfulness, as a sign of rejection on the part of God. The attitude towards such people on the part of others could also be appropriate - distrustful, contemptuous, unkind. They probably whispered about them behind their backs, or even said openly in their faces that they were probably great sinners, unworthy of their glorious and pious ancestors, since the Lord does not allow the lineage of David to continue in their family.

Meeting Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate

Among the Orthodox icons, there is one special one, with a rather unexpected plot. It depicts a man and a woman clinging to each other in a tender embrace. This icon reminds believers of the power of prayer, of life in piety and purity, of trust in God and the reward for righteousness. Heroes of this image - Saints Joachim and Anna, parents of the Virgin Mary. And the icon is called - "Meeting at the Golden Gate" or " Conception of Saint Anne”.

The Gospels say nothing about Joachim and Anna. We know the history of the spouses from the apocrypha "Protevangelium of James" - a text that is not considered fully canonical, but partially entered the Tradition of the Church.

It is believed that Joachim was a wealthy man, he lived in Nazareth. Anna, his wife, came from Bethlehem. The spouses were distinguished by piety: they gave alms to the poor, donated to the temple. But Joachim and Anna had no children. Such people were looked down upon in Jewish society. Childlessness was considered God-forsakenness, punishment, a sign of God’s displeasure…

Life of the Holy Fathers of God Joachim and Anna

FROM holy righteous Joachim came from the tribe of Judah, from the house of King David. His genealogy is as follows: the son of David Nathan was born the son of Levi, Levi gave birth to Melchia and Panther, Panther gave birth to Varpafir, Varpafir also gave birth to Joachim, father Mother of God.

Saint Joachim lived in the city of Nazareth in Galilee and had a wife named Anna from the tribe of Levi, from the family of Aaron, the daughter of the priest Matthan, who lived before the reign of Herod, the son of Antipater. This priest Matthan had his wife Mary, from the tribe of Judah, from the city of Bethlehem, and three daughters: Mary, Sovia and Anna.

Mary was the first of them to marry in Bethlehem, and gave birth to Salome; then she married Sovia, also in Bethlehem, and gave birth to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist; the third, as we have already said, the mother of the Most Holy Theotokos, was given in marriage to Joachim in the country of Galilee, in the city of Nazareth. These spouses, Joachim and Anna, coming from a noble family, learned in the law of the Lord and were righteous before God.

Having material wealth, they were not deprived of spiritual wealth. Adorned with all the virtues, they immaculately kept all the commandments of the law of God. For each holiday, pious spouses separated two parts from their property - one was given for church needs, and the other was distributed to the poor.

By their righteous life, Joachim and Anna pleased God so much that He made them worthy to be the parents of the Blessed Virgin, the predestined Mother of the Lord. From this alone it is already clear that their life was holy, pleasing to God and pure, since they had a Daughter, the Most Holy of All Saints, who pleased God more than anyone else, and the Most Honest Cherubim. At that time, there were no people on earth more pleasing to God than Joachim and Anna, according to their immaculate life.

Although at that time it was possible to find many living righteously and pleasing God, but these two surpassed everyone in their virtues and appeared before God the most worthy of the Mother of God being born from them. Such mercy would not have been bestowed upon them by God, if they did not really excel all in righteousness and holiness.

But just as the Lord Himself had to be incarnated from the Most Holy and Most Pure Mother, so it was fitting for the Mother of God to come from holy and pure parents. Just as earthly kings have their purples, made not of simple matter, but of gold-woven, so the Heavenly King wanted to have His Most Pure Mother, in whose flesh, as in royal purple, He had to put on, born not from ordinary intemperate parents, as from simple matter, but from the chaste and saints, as if from golden-woven matter, the prototype of which was the Old Testament tabernacle, which God ordered Moses to make from scarlet and scarlet matter and from fine linen (Ex. 27:16). This tabernacle represented the Virgin Mary, who dwelled in whom God had " live with people " as it is written: behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them» (Rev. 21:3).

The scarlet and scarlet cloth, and the linen, from which the tabernacle was made, represented the parents of the Mother of God, who descended and was born from chastity and abstinence, as if from scarlet and scarlet clothes, and their perfection in the fulfillment of all the commandments of the Lord, as if from fine linen.

But these holy spouses, by God's will, were childless for a long time - so that in the very conception and birth of such a daughter, both the power of God's grace, and the honor of the Born and the dignity of the parents were revealed; for it is impossible for a barren and aged woman to give birth otherwise than by the power of the grace of God: here it is no longer nature that is at work, but God, who conquers the laws of nature and destroys the bonds of barrenness.

To be born of infertile and aged parents is a great honor for the one who was born herself, because she is born not from intemperate parents, but from temperate and aged parents, such as Joachim and Anna, who lived in marriage for fifty years and had no children.

Finally, through such a birth, the dignity of the parents themselves is revealed, since after a long barrenness they gave birth to joy to the whole world, by which they became like the holy patriarch Abraham and his pious wife Sarah, who, according to the promise of God, gave birth to Isaac in old age (Gen. 21: 2).

However, without a doubt, it can be said that the birth of the Virgin is higher than the birth of Isaac by Abraham and Sarah. As much as the born Virgin Mary herself is higher and more worthy of honor than Isaac, so much greater and higher is the dignity of Joachim and Anna than Abraham and Sarah. They did not achieve this dignity right away, but only with zealous fasting and prayers, in spiritual sorrow and heartfelt grief, they begged God for this: and their grief turned into joy, their dishonor was a harbinger of great honor, and fervent petition was a guide to receiving blessings, and prayer is the best intercessor.

Joachim and Anna mourned and wept for a long time that they had no children. Once, on a big feast, Joachim brought gifts to the Lord God in the Jerusalem temple; along with Joachim, all the Israelites offered their gifts as a sacrifice to God. The high priest Issachar, who was at that time, did not want to accept the gifts of Joachim, because he was childless.

“You shouldn’t,” he said, “accept gifts from you, because you don’t have children, and therefore God’s blessings: you probably have some secret sins.”

Also, one Jew from the tribe of Reuben, along with others who brought his gifts, reproached Joachim, saying:

Why do you want to offer sacrifices to God before me? Don't you know that you are not worthy to bring gifts with us, for you will not leave offspring in Israel 1 ?

These reproaches greatly saddened Joachim, and in great sorrow he left the temple of God, shamed and humiliated, and the feast turned into sadness for him, and the festive joy was replaced by sorrow. Deeply grieving, he did not return home, but went into the wilderness to the shepherds who pastured his flocks, and there wept for his barrenness and for the reproach and reproaches made to him.

Remembering Abraham, his forefather, to whom God had given a son already at an advanced age, Joachim began to earnestly pray to the Lord that He would grant him the same favor, hear his prayer, have mercy and take away from him the reproach from people, granting him in old age fruit to his marriage, as once to Abraham.

“May I,” he prayed, “be able to be called the father of a child, and not childless and outcast from God to endure reproaches from people!”

Joachim added fasting to this prayer and did not eat bread for forty days.

“I will not eat,” he said, “and I will not return to my house; let my tears be my food, and this wilderness my home, until the Lord God of Israel hears and takes away my reproach.

In the same way, his wife, being at home and hearing that the high priest did not want to accept their gifts, reproaching them for barrenness, and that her husband retired into the wilderness out of great sorrow, wept with inconsolable tears.

“Now,” she said, “I am the most unfortunate of all: rejected by God, reviled by people and left by my husband!” Why cry now: about your widowhood, or about childlessness, about your orphanhood, or about not being worthy to be called a mother?!

She cried so bitterly all those days. Anna's slave, named Judith, tried to console her, but could not: for who can console her whose sorrow is as deep as the sea?

Once sad Anna went to her garden, sat down under a laurel tree, sighed from the depths of her heart and, raising her eyes full of tears to the sky, saw a bird's nest with small chicks on the tree. This spectacle caused her even greater grief, and she began to cry with tears:

- Woe to me childless! It must be that I am the most sinful among all the daughters of Israel, that alone before all the women I am so humiliated. Everyone carries the fruit of their womb on their hands, everyone consoles themselves with their children: I alone am a stranger to this joy.

- Woe to me! The gifts of all are accepted in the temple of God, and they are respected for childbearing: I alone am rejected from the temple of my Lord. Woe is me! Who will I be like? Not to the birds of the air, nor to the beasts of the earth: for they, too, bring forth their fruit to Thee, O Lord God, but I alone am unfruitful. I cannot even compare myself with the earth: for it vegetates and grows seeds and, bearing fruit, blesses You, Heavenly Father: I alone am barren on earth.

“Alas for me, Lord, Lord! I am alone, sinful, deprived of offspring. You, who once gave Sarah the son of Isaac in extreme old age (Gen.21:1-8), You, who opened the womb of Anna, the mother of Your prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1:20), now look at me and hear my prayers. Lord Sabaoth! You know the reproach of childlessness: stop the sorrow of my heart and open my womb and make me barren, making me fruitful, so that what I have born, we bring to You as a gift, blessing, singing and glorifying Your mercy.

When Anna cried out like this with weeping and sobbing, an angel of the Lord appeared to her and said:

Anna, Anna! Your prayer has been heard, your sighs have passed through the clouds, your tears have appeared before God, and you will conceive and give birth to a blessed Daughter; through her all the tribes of the earth will be blessed and salvation will be given to the whole world; her name will be Maria.

Hearing the angelic words, Anna bowed to God and said:

- The Lord God lives, if a child is born to me, I will give him to serve God. May he serve Him and glorify holy name God's day and night throughout your life.

After this, filled with inexpressible joy, Saint Anna quickly went to Jerusalem, so that there with prayer she would give thanks to God for His merciful visit.

At the same time, an angel appeared to Joachim in the wilderness and said:

- Joachim, Joachim! God has heard your prayer and is pleased to grant you His grace: your wife Anna will conceive and give birth to your daughter, whose birth will be a joy to the whole world. And here is a sign for you that I am proclaiming the truth to you: go to Jerusalem to the temple of God and there, at the golden gate, you will find your wife Anna, to whom I proclaimed the same thing.

Joachim, surprised by such an angelic gospel, glorifying God and thanking Him with his heart and mouth for his great mercy, with joy and joy hastily set off for the Jerusalem temple. There, as the angel had announced to him, he found Anna at the golden gate, praying to God, and told her about the angel's gospel. She also told him that she had seen and heard an angel announcing the birth of her daughter. Then Joachim and Anna glorified God, who had done them such a great mercy, and, bowing to Him in the holy temple, they returned to their home.

And Saint Anna conceived on the ninth day of the month of December, and on the eighth of September ( 21st according to the new style) she had a daughter, the Most Pure and Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the beginning and intercessor of our salvation, about whose birth both heaven and earth rejoiced. Joachim, on the occasion of Her birth, offered God great gifts, sacrifices and burnt offerings, and received the blessing of the high priest, priests, Levites and all the people for being worthy of God's blessing. Then he arranged a plentiful meal in his house, and everyone glorified God with joy.

Holy Righteous Anna with the Virgin Mary in her arms

The growing Virgin Mary of Her parent was cherished like the apple of an eye, knowing, by a special revelation of God, that She would be the light of the whole world and the renewal of human nature. Therefore, they brought her up with such careful diligence, which befitted the one who was supposed to be the Mother of our Savior. They loved her not only as a daughter, expected for such a long time, but also revered her as their mistress, remembering the angelic words spoken about her, and foreseeing in spirit what should happen to her.

She, full of Divine grace, mysteriously enriched her parents with the same grace. Just as the sun illuminates the heavenly stars with its rays, giving them particles of its light, so the God-chosen Mary, like the sun, illuminated Joachim and Anna with the rays of the grace given to her, so that they were filled with the Spirit of God, and firmly believed in the fulfillment of the angelic words.

When the maiden Mary was three years old, her parents brought Her with glory into the temple of the Lord, accompanying her with lit lamps, and consecrated Her to the service of God, as they had promised. Several years after the introduction of Mary into the temple, Saint Joachim died at the age of eighty years from birth. Saint Anna, left a widow, left Nazareth and came to Jerusalem, where she remained near her Most Holy Daughter, praying unceasingly in the temple of God. Having lived in Jerusalem for two years, she reposed in the Lord, having 79 years from birth 2 .

Oh, how blessed are you, holy parents, Joachim and Anna, for the sake of your Blessed Daughter!

You are especially blessed for the sake of Her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all peoples and tribes of the earth have received blessing! Rightly did the Holy Church call you Godfathers 3 for we know that God was born from your Most Holy Daughter. Now standing close to Him in heaven, pray that some part of your endless joy will be given to us too. Amen.

JOAKIM AND ANNA
Troparion, tone 2

Thy righteous, Lord, we celebrate the memory, / by those we pray to Thee: / save our souls.

Another troparion, tone 1

Even in the lawful grace of the righteous formerly, / Joachim and Anna gave birth to the God-given child for us. / The same day, the Divine Church, your honorable memory, / glorifies God, / lifts up the horn of salvation to us in the house of David.

Kontakion, tone 2

Now Anna rejoices, / having resolved the barrenness of the sous, / and nourishes the Most Pure, / calling all the praise / Who bestowed from her womb a man / one Mother and Unskilful.

Prayer to the holy righteous Joachim and Anna

O blessed righteous women of Christ, holy Fathers of God Joachim and Anna, coming to the heavenly Throne of the Great Tsar and having great boldness towards Him, as if from your Blessed Daughter, the Most Pure Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, who willed to incarnate, to you, as a powerful intercessor and zealous prayer books for us , we resort, sinful and unworthy.

Pray for His goodness, as if He would turn away His wrath from us, according to our deeds righteously moved against us, and even despising our countless sins, turn us to the path of repentance and confirm us on the path of His commandments. With your prayers, save our belly in the world and ask for good haste in all good things, all that is necessary for us from God to the belly and piety, from all misfortunes and misfortunes and vain death by your intercession, delivering us, and protecting us from all enemies visible and invisible, as if we would live a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity, and so in the world this temporary life has passed away, we will achieve eternal peace, even if by your holy supplication let us be vouchsafed to the Heavenly Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit all glory, honor befits and worship forever and ever. Amen.

*

1 Even the patriarchs of the people of Israel were repeatedly given a promise by God about the multiplication of their offspring; therefore, the Israelites looked upon numerous offspring as the highest happiness and blessing of God. On the other hand, according to the ancient promise of God, the Israelites hoped in their offspring to find the God-promised “Seed of the Woman,” the Messiah. That is why childlessness was considered among the Jews a grave misfortune and God's punishment for sins, and Jews looked at people who did not have children as great sinners.

3 The Church every day at the end of divine services, on vacation, asks those coming from the temple for mercy and salvation from the Lord through the prayers of the Mother of God and St. Righteous Godfather Joachim and Anna, and annually commemorates them on the next day of the Nativity of the Theotokos, for after the feast of the Nativity of the Mother of God it is proper to glorify St. Her parents.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

On this Sunday, we commemorate the holy righteous Fathers of God Joachim and Anna.

The memory of them is inextricably linked with the Virgin Mary, Who gave birth to the God-Man Jesus Christ. Since the Son of God was incarnated from Her womb and appeared to the world, it means that She also gave birth not just to the human nature of the Son, but to the very Person, Face and Hypostasis of the incorruptible God the Word. And since Mary is the Theotokos, then Her parents are not just the grandfather and grandmother of Jesus, but are the parents of the Theotokos Herself and, thus, are themselves the Fathers of God.

In the liturgical texts of today's feast, both of them - Joachim and Anna - are often denoted by one word - parents, holy pair, Godfathers. Although only Anna gives birth, Joachim seems to give birth with her; although only Joachim is a father in the proper sense of the word, Anna, as inseparable from him, is commemorated in the same word - the Godfather. The two are as one, the holy pair gives birth, nourishes, educates and introduces the Divine Maiden into the temple.

They are no longer two, but one flesh (see Matt. 19:6). Saints Joachim and Anna are an example of the fulfillment of the commandment that God gave to Adam in Paradise: “A man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife; and [the two] shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24).

At the same time, they were not only one flesh, but also one soul and one spirit. Their marriage was not a Jewish duty of procreation, not a duty to society to solve the demographic problem. They were united by a fertile, indescribable, deep mutual reckless romantic feeling, which we call love. Their mutual love lasted until old age, until death.

These features of human love between husband and wife are very touchingly depicted on Orthodox icons. Icon painters have created an amazing and, as it were, completely non-religious image of marital unity and merger - not only spiritual, but also carnal. The portrait of the Holy Fathers of God Joachim and Anna is a unique case when the Church glorifies marital love in colors.

Here in the small image around the icon of the Novgorod letter “Entrance into the Temple of the Most Holy Theotokos with Life” we see how the high priest expels Joachim from the temple for childlessness, in the next two images Joachim and Anna yearn separately: he is in the desert, and she is in the forest. Joachim, like a curse, goes into the desert, because the priest did not accept his sacrifice. Birds nesting on tree branches remind Anna of what she is crying about. But their suffering alone in the desert and in the forest is relieved by the vision of a comforting angel, heralding the coming joy.

On the icons of the “Meeting of Joachim and Anna at the Golden Gate” of Jerusalem, Joachim and Anna are shown in full growth, striving towards each other, their hands are closed in an embrace, their faces touch, as if in a kiss.

On the icon “The Conception of Anna”, the purely intimate meaning of the scene, thanks to the chastity of the image, does not seem shameful. Contemplating the icon, the viewer does not feel embarrassed and does not feel like peeping behind the veil of the canopy of the matrimonial bedroom. The embrace of the holy spouses exudes incredible purity, and therefore the contemplation of the icon "The Conception of Anna" turns out to be even instructive for those to whom this lesson of love is intended.

On the ancient icons of Pskov churches in the image of the "Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos" you can see how Joachim and Anna caress a newborn baby and white doves flock to look at family joy. Domestic birds - a goose and a duck - give the picture the character of a happy family idyll, in the center of which is the mutual love of a husband and wife.

Like the sun from the sun and the moon from the moon, Holy Mary is born from holy, loving parents. The liturgical hymns of the feast place Joachim and Anna above all other parents on earth. They overcome the Old Testament dependence of the happiness of spouses on the fact of the presence or absence of children. And in the time of Christ, by the way, a husband could give a divorce if the wife just salted the food.

According to Elder Paisius the Holy Mountaineer, Christ would have come to earth earlier if such a pure, chaste married couple had appeared on earth earlier, such as Saints Joachim and Anna were. At the same time, Elder Paisios Svyatogorets called them the most dispassionate married couple, since "they did not have worldly wisdom." The Holy Fathers of God were already in advanced years, they were over 60 years old when they conceived Mary. There was no youthful passion in their mutual attraction. They suffered from the fact that they did not have children, and therefore fervently prayed to God that He would give them a child. After prayer and the gospel from the angel, they came together as spouses "not out of carnal lust," wrote Paisios, "but out of obedience to God."

Judging by ancient legends, Saints Joachim and Anna loved each other undividedly, but without passion. Their love is characterized by such words as fidelity, compassion and tenderness for each other. They wanted a child not from the lust of the flesh, but from mutual love.

The Apostle Paul wrote that if in one body “a member suffers, all the members suffer with it, and if one member is glorified, all the members of the body rejoice with it” (see: 1 Cor. 12:26). From the lives of the holy Fathers of God, we see how touchingly they hide pain from each other (and Joachim goes into the desert, and Anna away from home) and how happy they are to share joy with each other (they run towards each other and clench in their arms).

How their portrait is not similar to what we see today!

The minds of many these days are infected with the idea that the ideal of a man is a bag of money, and women are a top model from the cover of a magazine. At the birth of a child, and this, as they say, sometimes happens "accidentally", pushes passion, but not love. The words "loyalty" and "loyalty" are not in fashion now, the main thing is to to me"It was good with him." And even if young people decide to “tie themselves up by legal marriage” (pay attention to the negative meaning of each word: yourself, tie, law, marriage), then the family becomes not the center of happiness, but a space where everyone in their own way "rests" from the outside world. Outside, at work in a work collective, everyone tries to keep himself "within the limits", to seem "good". But at home, within the four walls of a small apartment, everyone allows himself to "discharge", to throw lightning at his other half, thereby killing her and himself.

In almost every third family confession, we priests hear a plaintive story about an upcoming divorce. Often such a confession is not a desire to strengthen the desire to save the family, not a quick reaction to the fact that mutual feelings have changed by a milligram, but an attempt to find in the priest a worthy co-creator of his complaints, when everything has actually been decided. And at the same time, it is quite possible that the complainer, due to inner spiritual blindness, once himself gradually killed the feelings in his other half. He or she, expecting love from another, does not have a single gram of love in themselves.

“Love does not seek its own, does not rejoice in iniquity, endures everything, covers everything, believes everything,” wrote the Apostle Paul (see: 1 Cor. 13:5–7). If we had this mindset: "I believe him because he is mine husband"," I cover his wrongdoing, since I I can be wrong", "I bear his shortcomings, since herself far from an angel", "I do not rejoice in his shortcomings, since his pain is my pain"," I wish him happiness and for this I give him my love, "then, perhaps, such a family would not be on the verge of divorce.

The marriage of Joachim and Anna is an example of a timeless, unceasing appeal to each other, a constant striving towards each other, which, despite the hostility of the world, remains so until the end of life. Everything that happens around the holy spouses (news, society, work) is secondary in comparison with their attitude towards each other. Each of the spouses is looking for himself in his second half, in her "self-realization", wants to see all the harmony of the world in her face, wants to give herself to her.

The image of such striving towards each other is the image of Divine love. God is looking for His image in a person, God wants to be reflected in a person, God wants to give Himself to a person.

If we can find love in ourselves, at least a little like the love of Joachim and Anna, we will be on the same wavelength with Divine love. But if we look for prayers “for spouses” and at the same time coldly disdain our other half, we are wasting both our time and the priest’s time. God is not stupid, and He sees if there is even a drop of love in our heart. If, in the depths of the soul of the spouse or spouse, “divorce” already reigns, God cannot give her or him anything more.

Let, dear brothers and sisters, the example of the holy righteous Joachim and Anna, whom we commemorate every day at liturgical leave, be for us a model of what love for spouses should be: love beyond space and time, love before gray hair, love eternal.

Holy Fathers of God Joachim and Anno, pray to God for us!

The day after the feast of the Nativity of the Most Holy Theotokos, the Orthodox Church commemorates the parents of the Virgin Mary, the holy righteous Joachim and Anna, the Father of God. They received the name “Godfathers” because they are the direct ancestors of the Lord Jesus Christ.

According to Tradition, Joachim and Anna were a pious couple of the royal family, lived in Jerusalem (according to another version: in Nazareth), but had no children until old age. After the priest of the Jerusalem Temple refused to accept Joachim's sacrifice, the couple began to pray fervently for the gift of a child. The Lord answered their prayers, and soon Anna's daughter Maria was born. At the age of three, She was brought to the Temple, where she was brought up until she was 12 years old.

Joachim reposed a few years after the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple, at the age of 80, and Anna, two more years later, which she also spent at the Temple, at the age of 70.

Holy Righteous Fathers of God Joachim and Anna are commemorated at the end of every church service.

What do they pray to Saints Joachim and Anna

• Saints Joachim and Anna are traditionally prayed for the gift of children.
• About health.
• About unity and peace with a spouse.

Prayers to Saints Joachim and Anna

Oh, glorification of the righteous of Christ, the holy fathers of God Joachim and Anna, coming to the Heavenly Throne of the Great Tsar and having great boldness towards Him, as if from your Blessed Daughter, the Most Pure Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary, who willed incarnate!
To you, as a powerful representative and diligent prayer book for us, we resort, sinful and unworthy. Pray for His goodness, as if He would turn away His wrath from us, according to our deeds righteously moved on us, and let our countless sins, despising, turn us to the path of repentance, and confirm us on the paths of His commandments.

Also, with your prayers, save our life in the world, and ask for good haste in all good things, all that is needed for life and piety, we need it from God, from all misfortunes and misfortunes and sudden deaths by your intercession, delivering us, and protecting us from all enemies visible and invisible, as if we would live a quiet and silent life in all piety and purity, and such a temporary life in the world has passed away, we will achieve eternal peace, even if by your holy prayer let us be vouchsafed to the Heavenly Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him, with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit, all glory befits , honor and worship forever and ever. Amen.

Second Prayer to Righteous Joachim and Anna, Parents of the Most Holy Theotokos

O holy righteous, God-fathers Joachim and Anno! Pray to the Merciful Lord, as if He would turn away His anger from us, according to our deeds righteously moved on us, and may our countless transgressions be despised, turn us, the servant of God (names), to the path of repentance, and on the path of His commandments, let us confirm us. With the same prayers of yours in the world, save our life, and in all good things, ask for good haste, all that is necessary for us from God to life and piety, from all misfortunes and troubles and sudden death by your intercession, delivering us and protecting us from all enemies visible and invisible, and so in the world this temporary life has passed away, we will reach eternal peace, even with your holy prayer let us be merged with the Heavenly Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him, with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit, all glory, honor and worship befits forever and ever.

Prayer to Righteous Anna

O holy righteous, God-fathers Joachim and Anno! Pray to the Merciful Lord, as if He would turn away His anger from us, according to our deeds righteously moved on us, and may our countless transgressions be despised, turn us, the servant of God (names), to the path of repentance, and on the path of His commandments, let us confirm us. With the same prayers of yours in the world, save our life, and in all good things, ask for good haste, all that is necessary for us from God to life and piety, from all misfortunes and troubles and sudden death by your intercession, delivering us and protecting us from all enemies visible and invisible, and so in the world this temporary life has passed away, we will achieve eternal peace, even if by your holy prayer let us be merged with the Heavenly Kingdom of Christ our God, to Him with the Father and the Most Holy Spirit all glory, honor and worship befits forever and ever.